Justice News

KC Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Jasper County Meth Conspiracy, Illegal Firearm

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Jasper County, Mo., and for illegally possessing a firearm.

Dustin S. Parrish, 30, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.

On March 16, 2016, Parrish pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Jasper County from May 1 to Oct. 1, 2015, and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

On Oct. 1, 2015, Joplin police officers stopped Parrish, who was driving a white Chevrolet Cruz, at 32nd Street and Rangeline in Joplin. Parrish did not immediately stop his vehicle, but continued driving slowly west on 32nd Street. An officer saw Parrish lean down in the seat. After Parrish stopped his vehicle, the officer approached and noticed that Parrish was leaning forward in his seat, sweating, breathing heavily, and appeared nervous. The officer ran his driver’s license, and it showed that Parrish’s driver’s license was revoked.

After Parrish got out of the vehicle, the officer located a Taurus .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on the driver’s side floorboard. A service canine indicated on a black nylon bag on the front passenger side floorboard. The officer searched the bag and found six clear plastic bags containing a total of 66 grams of methamphetamine as well as drug paraphernalia.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nhan D. Nguyen. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.